My Happy Ending
by Konoha's White Fang
Summary: AU- One-shot! IchiRuki. Love is like a shooting star. You never know when it will come and you are not prepared to make a wish upon a star…


**My Happy Ending**

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"Inoue no, for the _last _time no." The raven-haired girl rubbed her temple while closing her eyes, she was trying to be calm and refuse the invitation politely, but the persistent woman wouldn't let her go unless she heard a "Yes" and that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

Rukia had been talking to her strawberry-haired friend on the phone for over an hour and none of the two women were about to change their minds. She wandered through her house; phone still in hand, while sighing at what her friend was telling her.

"Come on, Kuchiki-san. It'll be fun!" Orihime whined, trying to talk her raven-haired friend into coming with her to the party proved to be a challenge.

"No, no, no. Besides, you said that it'll be fun so go without me, don't worry I won't hold anything against you." Rukia tried to reason with her. She didn't want to go; besides her brother would refuse and wouldn't let her go. As she thought about what he would tell her. _"Rukia, Parties like these aren't a place for you to go." _A sweat drop trailed down her cheek so she decided to use her brother as an excuse.

"Inoue, my brother would refuse anyway so, why bother?" Rukia smiled inwardly at finally being able to win that endless conversation. She was getting sick by the woman's unbelievable persistence and was struggling to hold the thread that would get her to snap at her friend and that's the last thing she would ever want to do.

"Is that why you were refusing? Then it's okay, I got it covered. I already asked your brother and he agreed, isn't that great!" Inoue squealed happily while seemingly clapping her hands from the sound Rukia could hear. But she paid it no mind as she was staring at the wall of her room in front of her, mouth dangling with wide eyes.

"You did what?!" The raven-haired woman almost yelled at her friend out of shock.

"I asked your brother and he agreed, so get ready. The party will start at six so I'll come by at five, bye!" Obviously Inoue was oblivious to the fact that Rukia was fuming with anger. _Here goes my excuse_, Rukia thought, irritated by her friend's attitude.

How could she call her brother and ask him for permission? More importantly, how could her brother agree?! Rukia slammed her head on the wall then rubbed her sore forehead. She sighed, her brother might have gotten sick from Inoue and decided to give up and agree, to spare himself some headache. She wished that she had agreed earlier so she could spare herself the headache that was building.

She walked over to her closet to decide what to wear for the party. Inoue had mentioned that it's a dance so she would have to wear something that fitted the atmosphere. She opened the door of her closet and stepped into it. The closet was big enough to walk in; after all, she _was _living in a mansion as their family was considered one of the richest families in the country.

The Kuchiki family.

-

"Come on, Ichigo. You have to chill out a little," Keigo begged his orange-haired friend. For some reason, Ichigo didn't want to go to that party and was too stubborn to comply to his friend's wishes.

"One more word and I'll punch you, understand!" Ichigo threatened his friend and raised his fist in front of him to emphasize his point. His friend wouldn't leave him alone; suddenly he felt a presence behind him so he turned around only to find someone's chest blocking his view. He looked up to find his Latino friend, Chad.

"Chad, I didn't realize that you were here," Ichigo said while laughing nervously and rubbing the back of his head, until he felt himself being lifted off the ground.

"Hey! Put me down!" He yelled and struggled to get free from the giant's hold but he was stopped as Keigo stepped into his line of view with a smirk on his face.

"Listen, we only have one hour left to get you ready for the party, and Chad here is going to help me." He grinned as he gestured for Chad to bring the orange-haired man to his room, to start the operation of getting Ichigo ready.

The young Kurosaki gave up struggling, as he knew that he couldn't come up with any excuses that would prevent him from going. He sighed as he felt relief overwhelm him

_"Thank god, dad and the twins are on a father-daughter trip." _Ichigo didn't want to experience the hell his father would put him through if he saw him being carried. And most importantly, if he knew that his only son didn't want to go to a party, as in 'girl hunting'.

Finally at the Kurosaki's room, he felt himself being thrown on the bed, and noticed that Keigo was messing around with his closet.

"Get out of my room! Last time I checked I was fully capable of choosing my own clothes without help." A vein popped out of Ichigo's head as he glared daggers at his annoying so-called friend. Keigo took that as his cue to leave, in order to spare himself some pain, and pushed Chad with him out of the room, then closed the door behind him.

Ichigo heaved a sigh of frustration as he made his way slowly towards his closet. He opened the door and observed his clothes. He had to pick an outfit that was meant for a party but comfortable at the same time. How hard could it be?

-

True to her words, Orihime stood on the front step of Rukia's door waiting for the raven-haired woman to answer her door. Rukia opened the door and welcomed Inoue with a smile and went back to her room to start getting ready. Orihime followed her to her room to find it a complete mess.

"What happened here, Kuchiki-san? It seems like your room has been hit by a tornado." Inoue looked around her, surveying the damage. Dresses were all around the floor and the bed, pairs of shoes were scattered around the room.

"I can't choose a proper dress," Rukia complained as she looked around her room tiredly, now she'd have to clean the mess she created, she sighed, then looked back at her friend whom was heading towards a pile of dresses.

Inoue searched around in the pile until she found what she was looking for. She picked a tight black silky dress, with no sleeves or back and was opened in a V shape all the way towards her chest. It was held by a string that would be tied around the neck. And the fact that the dress didn't reach the knees, made more skin show.

"I didn't notice that one," Rukia said as she approached her friend while observing the dress. Inoue handed Rukia the dress and ordered her to go and put it on, or they would be late for the party. The raven-haired midget complied as she went to the bathroom to change.

Upon finishing wearing the black dress, she opened the door of the bathroom and went outside to see a very happy Inoue.

"Kuchiki-san! You look wonderful! No guy can resist you!" She exclaimed as she clapped her hands together cheerfully.

Rukia blushed as she bowed her head down to hide her flushed face. "Thank you Inoue. You look great too," she told her. Inoue was wearing a sleeveless red dress with a light white jacket on top of it. The young Kuchiki noticed her friend holding a pair of high-heels. They had the color of black too, to match the dress, though they were glittered with dark silver, making it look wonderful.

Inoue handed Rukia the pair of high-heels and told her to put them on, to see how they looked on her. Rukia complied and wore the black high-heels and looked at Inoue to know if they were good or not.

"They are great!" Inoue chirped happily while hugging her friend. They indeed looked fascinating on her as if it was made only for her.

Rukia went to her jewelry box and pulled out a necklace that had a diamond in the middle; it had a shape of a heart. Rukia told Inoue that her brother Byakuya had given her that necklace as a gift on her birthday, and she found it quite charming to be kept in that box all the time.

Before she left the mansion, she made sure to grab a purse with her. Inoue was the one to drive to the location of the party. The party in general was held to celebrate the end of school. It was like some kind of graduation party but with no supervision, so there was alcohol in it and Rukia hated that kind of parties. Who knew what kind of trouble she would get in because of that.

They finally reached their desired location and got out of the car, after turning the engine off. They walked through the doors into the building, side by side. They were greeted with flashy lights accompanied with loud music pumping in the air. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, dancing and drinking with each other.

She was brought out of her shocked state when she heard Inoue greeting their friend Ishida, though he wasn't alone as Renji and Tatsuki also came with him standing behind him.

"Hey Renji." Rukia waved her hand at her red-haired friend with a smile on her face.

"Rukia! So you finally agreed to come!" He grinned at her like an idiot and hugged her tightly, then released her to look at her. "Glad you could make it," he told her looking into her eyes while she smiled at him.

She was so happy to see her friends again, as a matter of fact, she thought that after finishing school, they wouldn't be able to stay and hang out together anymore, due to circumstances. As each of them wanted to go to a different college and university, that would meet their qualifications and standards.

"Come on! Let's go and enjoy ourselves a little!" Tatsuki came and grabbed Rukia by her arm, leading her to the dance floor. The raven-haired girl freed herself gently and apologized politely as she didn't feel like dancing at the moment and told her friends to dance without her and she'd join them soon.

Rukia sighed heavily as she turned towards the table where drinks were served. She took a glass of what looked like juice and sipped it slowly. After all, she didn't want to get drunk. She went to stand by a wall and leaned her back against it, observing the whole room, mostly the dance floor.

She noted that almost every person in there didn't come alone; instead he or she had someone to party with. On the other hand, she felt lonely, of course she could go party with her friends but she didn't want that. She wanted someone to dance and feel the music with as if he was hers.

She closed her eyes and continued on sipping her juice until she heard someone talking to her. "Hey there, you alone too?" She opened her eyes only to see at first bright orange hair. She looked at the person who was talking to her; he had a scowl on his face and was leaning his back against the wall next to her, holding a glass of what looked like also juice.

"Yeah." She sighed and closed her eyes again until she heard him talking again.

"Kurosaki Ichigo, nice to meet you." She looked at his extended hand before taking it into hers and shaking it "Kuchiki Rukia, nice to meet you too."

Upon letting go of her hand, Ichigo stuffed his hand into his pocket and sipped his juice using his other free one. "Do you want to hear something funny? I was _literally_ forced into coming here," he said and made sure to emphasize on the word 'literally' while looking at her with an amused expression on his face.

"Me too." She smiled at him as he looked at her, surprise painting his face. "And now I'm alone, leaning on this wall watching other people dance." She chuckled softly. He smiled at her and pointed at himself while nodding. "Same thing here."

"Then let's enjoy ourselves while we're here, care to dance?" Ichigo looked at her and held his hand in front of her after placing his drink on the table beside him. Waiting for her to accept, he raised an eyebrow at her.

"S-sure," she hesitantly agreed and placed her drink on the same table as his, and took his hand, letting him lead her to the dance floor. Surprisingly, the moment they stepped on the dance floor, the pumping music died down, and was replaced by a slow one.

He looked at her awkwardly. When he decided to ask her to dance with him, he didn't think that, that kind of music, he would have to dance on. He hesitantly put one of his hands around her waist and waited for her to protest, surprisingly she didn't, instead he saw a shade of red painting her cheeks, she was _blushing_.

He smirked inwardly and took her hand in his. She looked up at him and immediately knew that he had some kind of previous experience in dancing so she tried to go along with him.

"Can you follow my lead?" He smirked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You bet." She gave him a smirk of her own as she readied herself to follow his steps.

He slowly started moving while she followed his steps, he looked at her straight in the eyes, not breaking eye-contact, even when his steps became faster. He twirled her around and caught her to be facing him again, except that, that time she felt a little uncomfortable because of the tiny almost non-existing distance between them. His face was merely two inches away from hers while his body was pressed against hers; all the while his eyes were focused solely on her.

She swallowed her saliva, then felt him moving again. The people who were dancing a few minutes ago stopped to watch the dancing couple - as they thought – dance swiftly. Inoue, Renji and Tatsuki pushed through the crowds to look at what was holding people up, until they saw their friend Rukia dancing gracefully with a stranger.

"Who's that?" Renji asked irritated about the fact that Rukia was dancing with a total stranger. He had a crush on her, since the first time he met her when they were little kids, but he never had the courage to tell her that.

"I don't know, I have never seen her with him before, let alone any guy," Inoue mused as she observed the couple's graceful movements. She heard her black-haired friend giggle so she turned around to know what's funny.

"Looks like Kuchiki-san has finally found someone." Tatsuki smiled as she observed the two dancing. She would admit that she was surprised to find her friend dancing and with not only a stranger but also a very attractive one at that. But she was happy for her and wished her good luck.

Inoue joined in the giggling, while Renji kept his eyes on the dancing couple, completely ignoring his two giggly friends. The music slowly started to die down until it completely stopped and that was when everyone started clapping their hands at the wonderful performance they had seen.

Ichigo and Rukia snapped out of their little world at the sound of clapping, breaking the eye-contact. The two were oblivious to the fact that they had an audience watching them the whole time they were dancing. Rukia blushed and looked down at the floor while Ichigo laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

Another song started which helped averting the attention of people away from them, as they started dancing again. Ichigo and Rukia slipped unnoticed, away from the dancing floor to stand near the wall.

"I had no idea that you could dance," she told him with a sly smile while hitting him gently on the arm.

"You're not bad yourself." He grinned at her. "What do you say we get out of here?" He tilted his head towards the exit, waiting for her answer. Upon receiving a nod from her, he took her by the hand and led her out of the room.

"Want to go get some coffee?" He asked her while leading her to his car.

"Sure why not," she replied and waited for him to open the car. Once he did, she slipped into the chair next to the driver's and put on the seat belt. He started the engine and drove to where he knew a place that served coffee.

"Nice car." Rukia tried to start a conversation, because of the unbearable silence. "Thanks," Ichigo replied and the silence soon came and enveloped them. Rukia sighed, she hated that silence, so there she was trying to talk to him, but he wasn't making it any easier.

"So...what are you planning on doing in your life?" Rukia was caught off guard as he finally decided to cut through the silence. She took a minute to register what he had asked her. "Um...my brother wants me to take over the family business," she answered him.

"And he is...?" The orange-haired man suddenly felt the need to know everything about her, since he danced with her and was that close to her. He felt an unusual feeling that he had never felt before. The moment he stepped foot into the room back there, and saw her leaning against the wall, he wanted to talk to her. But he couldn't bring himself to do so and decided to observe her from afar, until he finally pushed himself to go talk to her, which led into dancing with her.

Rukia turned her sight to stare outside the car's window and into the street. "Kuchiki Byakuya." She sighed his name. Her brother wasn't exactly someone to be remembered as a happy thing since he seemed not to care about her at all.

Ichigo only nodded though he knew that she couldn't see him, and continued on concentrating on the matter at hand; driving. They finally reached their destination as Ichigo parked the car and got out. Rukia followed him as he led her to a small coffee shop. He opened the door making the bell ring softly signaling their arrival.

An old woman stepped from behind the counter and walked to where they seated themselves "Ichigo-san long time no see, how have you been?" The old woman asked as she adjusted her eye glasses on her face while smiling warmly at them.

"I'm sorry I haven't been coming here lately, everything is fine. You know my dad, old crazy fool," Ichigo said the last part sarcastically while smiling at the old woman.

"And who's this young lady?" The old woman asked Ichigo with a smirk.

"Ah, this is Kuchiki Rukia my friend," Ichigo introduced her to the woman. "Nice to meet you ma'am." Rukia smiled while bowing her head slightly out of respect.

"What a lovely girl. So what would you like today?" the old woman asked the two. Ichigo told her that he wanted plain coffee while Rukia said that she would like to have a cup of coffee with two spoons of sugar. With that the woman left them to attend to their order.

"Can't drink plain coffee, huh?" Ichigo teased her while raising an eyebrow at her.

"Shut up." Was the only thing that Rukia said to defend herself from his sarcastic comment.

The old woman came, as quickly as she left, with their hot black drink, serving them; she left to attend to other business. Rukia sipped her coffee slowly so as not to burn her tongue while closing her eyes, feeling the hot liquid running through her throat. While Ichigo didn't touch his cup as he stared at his companion with gentle eyes. She looked like a child when she sipped her coffee carefully, he thought. And he liked that in her, not many girls had the same innocence in them as her.

She opened her eyes to find him only staring at her which made her shift uncomfortably in her chair under his gaze. He noticed that and quickly apologized for staring at her like that and sipped his coffee, putting his full attention on the hot liquid instead of her.

They sat in silence as each of them sipped through their coffee until Ichigo decided after finishing to go out for a walk. The weather was nice outside he claimed, so Rukia had no chance but to accept his offer. They finished their drink and went outside; there was a small park near the shop so they walked in it under the moon's silver rays.

From the corner of her eye, the young Kuchiki glanced at him, they had been walking for quite some time now and neither of them said a word. It's not like she hated the silence as a matter of a fact it was nice. But she felt the need to break it and learn more about that new friend.

"Isn't the sky beautiful?" He asked her. She looked at him and nodded, he was clearly lost in his thoughts when he said that, he was staring at the night sky, both of his hands stuffed in his pockets. "The moon is like the center while the stars are scattered around it, as if they were revolved around one thing which is the moon," Ichigo mumbled absent minded.

Rukia turned to look at him surprised at what he said. At that moment, she hated that silence, it was suffocating her, and she needed to break it. Besides, she could tell that he became sentimental and she didn't want to deal with him while he's in that state.

She whacked him on the back of his head, earning herself a glare and a series of curses. "Why the hell did you do that for midget?!" He yelled at her while rubbing the sore spot on his head.

"You became sentimental all of a sudden," she stated while crossing her arms over her chest.

"Sorry about that--OWW! Now why did you do that?!" He asked irritated while nursing the now-pained chin.

She smirked at him. "Because you called me a midget." She shot him a death glare. They stayed quiet for a while until Rukia said. "I think that it's better if I go home now," she told him with a smile. Ichigo nodded and led them back to the car.

XXXX

"Kuchiki-san, Where were you yesterday? You suddenly disappeared and we couldn't find you," Orihime exclaimed rather loudly in Rukia's ear. It was early in the morning as Rukia thought but it was ten in the morning. Rukia re-placed the phone next to her ear after making sure that it was safe to do that.

"Remember the stranger from yesterday? Well, he asked me to have a cup of coffee with him." Rukia smiled as she looked over at her bed. She pressed her index finger on her lips trying to muffle a laugh that threatened to escape her lips.

"Really!" Was all Inoue said as she whispered something on the other side of the phone to someone.

Rukia stared at the person on her bed; his orange hair was showing a little from under the covers. She couldn't think how one thing led to another for them to end up like that but she smiled nonetheless as he started to wake up.

"Good morning sleepy-head." The orange-haired man gave her one of his grins as he scooted over to be in front of her. "Well...aren't you smiley today." He kissed her lightly on the lips as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her towards the bed. She yelped in surprise as she fell back on the bed. She smiled inwardly as she thought; _going to that party wasn't actually such a bad idea after all_.

**-**

**Fin**

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Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

**I hope that you enjoyed this little one shot.**

**~KWF~**


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